


Five Times When Fitz and Simmons Struggled to Communicate (And Once When it was Easy)

by thinlizzy2



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/F, Families of Choice, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 22:31:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinlizzy2/pseuds/thinlizzy2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Science, ice-cream, near death experiences, hopeless crushes, gorgeous Russians and a monkey named Copernicus.  And two best friends who love nerdy TV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times When Fitz and Simmons Struggled to Communicate (And Once When it was Easy)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bodldops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bodldops/gifts).



1\. 

For a genius, Leo Fitz spent a whole lot of time feeling stupid, but that didn't mean that he was any good at dealing with it. So watched as his lab partner's mega-watt smile faded into nothing and he could do nothing but stammer uselessly at her even though he knew, with something like 98.865% certainty, that what he was trying to do would be very much a wasted effort.

"I mean everyone needs to eat, right? And I just thought, maybe, we could eat together. At night, you know, because otherwise candlelight wouldn't make a lot of sense, and candlelight makes dinner… better? I guess? People do it in the movies, and in the pasta adverts, and it always looks nice. So… do you want to?"

The stream of words coming out of his mouth were pretty much unstoppable; the hours he'd spent practicing this in front of the mirror had definitely been wasted. 

"Leo… I do like you. _Really._ " Jemma Simmons bit nervously at her lower lip, and he hated himself for being the guy who made her so uncomfortable. He knew he wasn’t that guy. He didn’t like her just because she was so ridiculously pretty that she spent half her time convincing the wankers in their program not to call her Biochemist Barbie.

He liked her because she got why Captain Picard was the greatest starship captain ever. And because she had a collection of comic books that could have rivalled his own. And because hers were all water-damaged, as she loved them so much that she read them in the bath every night. He liked her because she was the only other person besides himself that he'd ever met who put ketchup on her mushroom fried rice and he was curious to see if that was a genetic preference they could pass down to their kids. 

Leo liked Jemma because she was funny and brilliant and brave, and he couldn't stop believing that they were supposed to _mean_ something to each other.

Except she was so clearly not interested.

"You know what? Never mind. I just remembered I have to… wash my hair. Every night. I have really greasy hair; it's been a problem since puberty. Oh shite. Just, never mind,” he said, staring down at his hands and seeing the flowers he’d almost forgotten. “But take these, okay? You like biology; you can probably keep them alive a lot longer than I could. I'm crap at anything with chlorophyll. Or blood. Or anything but oil, really. Probably why it couldn't have worked out between us, anyway; you're not at all oily."

He thrust the stupid pink roses that he'd brought at her and they hung there in the air, like tissue-wrapped emblems of this whole failed idea. He suddenly had no idea why he'd even bought them; was it right to give a girl flowers when asking her on a date? Or were they for the date itself, something to give her when she answered the door? He had no idea, and it obviously didn't matter since he was never going to get to go on a date anyway. He was beginning to worry that she wasn't going to take them and that he'd be stuck there forever with his arm out, wielding a bunch of long-dead roses like a sword, but then she quietly relieved him of them and he was so grateful he could have cried.

"Great. So, enjoy. I hope you like the smell. Or if not, you could maybe make potpourri. Although, that would probably just be more smells. Bye." He turned and fled.

He'd only made it down the library steps when he heard rapid footsteps behind him. He thought of maybe trying to outrun her, but she was gaining on him quickly and the thought of being tackled by a girl carrying a bouquet was one humiliation too many for that day. So he turned and faced her.

"Look, this is embarrassing enough..."

"Shut up, you idiot." She grabbed his arm and led him over to a bench. "Just listen to me for a minute, all right? You're an amazing guy. And if was going to date a bloke, you'd probably be my first choice. But I'm just not, Leo. Ever. Because I'm gay. So believe me when I say this: it's not you; it's me."

He stared at her. "You're _gay? _"__

__She nodded. "I'm pretty sure. I mean, I've never really _dated_ anyone, you know? But if I ever do, I know I want it to be a girl. They just seem right. Not that I can ever work up the nerve to actually let the ones I really fancy to know I'm interested; I just morph into some babbling ninny. But that's a whole other topic."_ _

__And there was yet _another_ thing they had in common, and it wouldn't do him one iota of good. So he'd spent the last semester getting moony-eyed over a lesbian. Great. His dad was right; he really was hopeless. He was trying to think of some excuse to get up and go as quickly as possible so he could forget about his situation with a good 13 hour internet-and-fried-stuff binge, until he realised she was still talking._ _

__"But like I said, I _like_ you. And so I hope that we can still be friends. I don't... I've never had many friends, Leo. I don't want to lose you."_ _

__Friends? _Please._ Friends, in Leo Fitz's life, were the people who only invited him to their birthday parties because their mums made them or who borrowed his homework to 'check' their answers and then copied every word. At best, they were the girls who flirted with him to make their boyfriends jealous and then didn't speak to him for weeks until they needed to do it again. He didn't need any more friends. But Jemma looked painfully earnest, and so he figured he'd just agree. It would only be a matter of time before she decided he wasn't someone she wanted to be friends with and disappeared on him anyhow._ _

__"Sure. Why not? We'll be friends."_ _

__2._ _

__"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" Leo whirled around on his flatmate, his face red with anger. "I mean, seriously. Enlighten me, please, because I just can't figure it out."_ _

__Jemma blinked with surprise; obviously this was not the reaction she had been expecting. Still, she got into the game pretty quickly. "What was I thinking. Hmmm, I'm not sure. Let me try to remember." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Ah yes; it's coming back to me. I was thinking that you are bloody brilliant, far too brilliant to to be wasting your time grading undergrad papers, so when Professor Billings said that he was looking for a research assistant, I decided I'd just mention your name and some of your literally dozens of underappreciated accomplishments. Why on earth not?"_ _

__"Because… because!" She sounded so damn logical it took Leo a moment to remember exactly why he was furious with her. "Because if I wanted the position I could have just applied for it myself. But I don't want it, so I didn't apply. Did you ever think of _that?_ "_ _

__"Oh please!" Jemma scoffed. "Like you would. Like you're not so ridiculously _humble_ that you'd ever actually go after a job like this, even though you're utterly perfect for it in every way. Professor Billings thinks so too; he was so excited when I told him you were available that I thought he was going to try and hug me. But hey, since you're obviously perfectly content to wallow in your self-imposed mediocrity, I won't try to help you rise above it again. Is that better?"_ _

__"Much, thank you!" Leo cursed inwardly once he realised what he'd just said. "I mean, no! I'm not mediocre."_ _

__"You're telling me?" Jemma rubbed at her temples. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. This was Stage Two of arguing with Jemma, the part where she tried to seem all calm and rational and defeat him with the power of level-headed reasoning. "Leo, I know you're not mediocre. Far from it. You may even be on _my_ level, and that's not something I admit easily." _ _

__He absolutely refused to laugh._ _

__She sighed and went on. "You know, if you were genuinely happy marking essays called _Could Sentient Vibrators Doom the Human Race?_ , I'd leave it alone. But you're not. And this project is exactly in line with your interests. It's got space travel applications and A.I.; you'll get to meet some amazing researchers. Why not just try for it?"_ _

__"Because it's going to be incredibly competitive!" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them._ _

__"And so freaking what?" Jemma was staring at him like his was out of his mind. Stage Two had flown by in record time, and they were now entering Stage Three: Unending Nagging, Redux. "Do you think there's anyone in Engineering who can possibly do it better than you can? And what's the worse case scenario? You don't get it? How is that the end of the world? You'll just get the next job, or the one after that. It's not like you don't deserve it. And… _ohhhh._ "_ _

__Her eyes were wide with sudden understanding. Leo silently prayed that she'd got it wrong, but he knew the chances were slim. There was a downside to being best friends with a genius._ _

__Sure enough, she'd hit the nail squarely on the head. "This is about your dad, isn't it?"_ _

__Leo wiped the heels of his hands across his eyes. "You just don't get it, Jems."_ _

__And why would she? Jemma's relatives were amazingly normal people. He'd spent the last two Christmases with them, wrapping himself up securely in their little cocoon of mulled wine, hand-knitted scarves and gentle support. Before his first visit, he'd always marvelled at Jemma's tenacity, the way she would fearlessly chase down every possible research grant or publication opportunity, the way she could shrug off a failed experiment by recalibrating her hypothesis and starting over. Then he'd met the Simmonses, and realised what a difference it could make to have a family who didn't constantly hang over you, waiting for you to fail so that they could rub your nose in it. He hadn't even spoken to his father in months, but he could still clearly hear the man crowing over his poindexter son daring to mistakenly think that he could actually work alongside a big deal like Billings. The idea was so vivid that, angry as he was, he clutched Jemma hard against against him when she reached out for a reconciling hug, needing the familiar comfort of her warmth._ _

__"Listen", Jemma whispered in his ear. "Who knows you best, me or your dad?"_ _

__It was no contest. Jemma knew him better than anyone. She knew his favourite colour (turquoise - not aquamarine, they were _different_ ), his favourite food (noodles with butter and soy sauce - actually butter and soy sauce with noodles was probably more accurate, which Jemma also knew) and his worst fear (dying alone, and also spiders). No one had ever cared enough about him to learn that stuff before, so no one knew him like she did. "You." _ _

__"So if he says you're not worthy of this and I say you are, who's most likely to be right?"_ _

__He snorted into the shoulder of her blazer, and he could feel her stifling a giggle after scoring such a clear point. "You're biased though." He couldn't help pointing it out. "You love me."_ _

__"Yes." Jemma nodded firmly. "I do. Very much, in fact. And if you don't get this position, guess what happens then?" She gave him a gentle shake. "I just go on loving you, Leo! Nothing changes either way, except if you go through with this you might just get to do some incredible work. So since there's zero risk, why not try?"_ _

__He groaned. There was no point in arguing with her, and to be honest he didn't really want to. "Give me his email address then. I'm sure you got it off him."_ _

__She grinned and pulled out her phone. "He's under 'D' For ' Dear God Leo, stop being a dillweed and just ring this guy.' Don't worry; he's expecting your call."_ _

__3._ _

__Jemma was crying and Leo felt horrible._ _

__It wasn't just that her reddened eyes and gasping breaths were symbols of misery he could do nothing to make go away, no matter how many cups of tea he fixed or how many tissues he fetched. He was so used to being able to distract her with a fascinating afternoon in the lab or a Doctor Who marathon or, failing all else, a really good hug. Seeing her in pain, stubborn and lingering pain, made him ache too._ _

__But even more overwhelming than that was the guilt._ _

__Because he'd wanted Natasha to go away - Natasha with her hands always all over Jemma and her big bullshit stories about being some kind of international spy and her way of luring Jemma away from her work and into some kind of secret-smiling fuzzy-headed bliss where Leo couldn't follow her. He'd hoped that Jemma would get over the whole thing and ditch her, or, once he'd realised just how unlikely that was, that Natasha would get tired of whatever game she was playing with Jemma and just leave. Apparently, he'd gotten that wish. But he'd never imagined Jemma sobbing like her heart was actually in the middle of being shredded, and he'd take back every nasty thought he'd ever had about Natasha Romanov if it would make Jemma stop hurting._ _

__"She said I'm too good. Too pure." Jemma barely managed to get the words out, but it didn't matter. Leo had heard them at least ten times since he'd come home to find his best friend, slumped as if gut-punched, on the living room floor. "She said she'd just ruin me, and she can't let that happen. Like I couldn't even take care of myself, Leo! Like I was just some dumb kid!"_ _

__If half the stories Natasha had been telling Jemma about herself were true, which Leo had always doubted, then no bloody kidding Jemma was too pure to be getting close to her. But he wasn't about to tell her that, so he just shook his head and pulled her down so that her head was resting on his shoulder. "I know. It's… bad."_ _

__"Bad? _Bad?!?_ Is that honestly all you can say? Do you not understand? She's gone, Leo! And when I call her phone, I just get this weird Russian recording now; I tried email and it bounced back with a message that it was undeliverable." Jemma wiped her nose of the sleeve of her blouse and Leo silently handed her yet another tissue. "I don't know how to get in touch with her or if I'll ever even see her again!"_ _

__"Well, would that really be so bad?" It was almost a relief to see the 'I'm going to verbally tear you in half' fighting light come back into her eyes, but if she got angry enough to storm off then she'd be miserable _and_ also alone, and he couldn't let that happen. He desperately backpedalled. "I just mean that if she's really determined to end things, then maybe a clean break is better. Would it really do you any good to have to hear her say all this stuff again and again?"_ _

__"Maybe if I could talk to her I could change her mind, or…" Jemma trailed off, and Leo immediately understood why. He may not have liked Natasha, but even he grudgingly respected her resoluteness. If she didn't want to come back then she wouldn't, and Jemma must have known that. When she spoke again, her voice was so quiet he needed to strain to hear her. "It's just… I'm in love with her."_ _

__Well that was like a million red-hot needles of pain shooting right into his solar plexus. It wasn't that he was jealous, not in the traditional sense. He'd given up on the idea of anything romantic with Jemma years ago; now the whole idea seemed incestuous and unnatural. But the idea of her loving someone in way that she didn't or couldn't love him still hurt, and the fact that she'd chosen to give that to someone who wasn't going to stick around and appreciate that good fortune just seemed so cosmically unfair. There didn't seem to be any way to put that into words that wouldn't make her cry harder though, so he settled for an admittedly pathetic sounding, "...oh."_ _

__"And we had so many plans." Jemma sounded like a disappointed child at Christmas. "Remember, Leo? I was going to join up with her organization and go out into the field with her. We were going to go all around the world together! And now, what am I going to do? Try and get into some pharmaceuticals company? Chase after tenure for the rest of my life? It all sounds so boring now!"_ _

__Replace pharmaceuticals with engineering and those were pretty much his plans, but he tried not to take offense. "You'll do whatever you want to do, Jemma." He rubbed little circles along her spinal column. "Anything at all you want."_ _

__"But I want _that_. Those adventures. _The field!_ It all sounded so glamourous."_ _

__It had all sounded like a lot of malarkey to Leo, exactly the kind of nonsense some middle-management government type would make up to get an impressionable young woman into bed with her. Still, this wasn't the time to point that out. "So do it."_ _

__"What?" She laughed joylessly. "By myself? You can't be serious."_ _

__"Why not?"_ _

__"Because… I don't know! I wouldn't even know where to start. Natasha was the one who knew all about that world. She could have introduced me to people, told them I'm good at what I do."_ _

__"You're bloody _great_ at what you do", Leo corrected her. "And you don't need Natasha to tell anyone that. Your work can speak for itself any day."_ _

__Jemma still looked like a mess, but for a reassuring second he thought he saw a hint of her familiar fire under all that. Then she shook her head and it was gone._ _

__"The truth is, I'm scared Leo." She sniffled. "I could do it with Natasha; I know that. But all on my own?" She flung a balled-up tissue towards the bin and missed by several centimetres. "Fuck. She was right about me, wasn't she? I'm just too soft for her life."_ _

__Leo shook his head firmly. "First of all, you absolutely are not. Second, you wouldn't be all on your own." Oh, this was a _bad_ idea, but if it was going to make her feel better he'd go for it anyway. "I'll do it with you."_ _

__She stared at him. " _You?_ "_ _

__"Sure, why not? Intrigue. Danger. The field. Sounds great!" It sounded like a fucking nightmare, but since odds were overwhelmingly in favour of none of it being real anyway, what did it matter? "You and me as international agents of justice and exploration, like Starfleet but on Earth." Okay, that part _did_ sound great. He gave her a Vulcan salute. "Agent Fitz reporting for duty, Captain. Are you with me, Agent Simmons?"_ _

__4._ _

__"The hardest part was sorting it with Customs." Jemma was beaming from ear to ear. "Let's just say that the S.H.I.E.L.D. ID came in handy. I had to let the men at the airport think I wanted him for research, but afterwards I reassured him and made sure he knew he'd be safe."_ _

__Leo couldn't stop staring at the monkey in the big glass cage under the Christmas tree._ _

__"We should let him out of there soon; he's not used to being caged. I've been training him in the cargo hold; he's pretty much housebroken now. Well, mostly. And he likes people. Gebus apella xanthrosternus usually live in groups with one alpha male, so you'll need to take that role. I'm told things can be pretty bad if he starts thinking _he's_ the alpha. Poop-flinging bad." Jemma cast a fond glance at the creature, and Leo knew the primate had already won her over with its ingenious recycling of its feces. Jemma was a sucker for evolutionary drives in action._ _

__"Still, it won't hurt if we indulge him a little bit. There are some treats in your stocking; you should give him one before you let him out so that he likes you." She practically skipped over to the mantle and returned with something that looked like a cluster of nuts and insects. "Go on."_ _

__Too stunned to speak, he poked the treat into the food slot and watched the monkey greedily gobble it up. At Jemma's prompting he released the lock and the monkey clamoured up onto his shoulder like they were already instant chums._ _

__"Isn't he just amazing?" Jemma's grin was threatening to split her face in half. Come on, Leo! Monkey got your tongue? Say something."_ _

__The words slipped out before he could stop them. "He's a _Yellow-Breasted_ Capuchin monkey! I wanted a Robust Tufted!"_ _

__5._ _

__Everything hurt._ _

__It didn't make sense. Leo remembered getting hit in the back with the… what? A dart? It had felt like a dart. So logically, his back should hurt. But why were his lungs burning; what was this searing pain at the top of his head? Even more of a worry, why couldn't he open his eyes? Why couldn't he _move?__ _

__He could hear Coulson's voice, sharp and panicked. It seemed to cut through the air and right into Fitz's spine. Then a woman by his side gasped (Jemma? No, not Jemma; he'd know if it was her), and they began to argue. He couldn't make out the words, but the noise - holy shit, the _noise_ \- it was like heated spikes of pain. Someone's hands were on him, and oddly that didn't hurt. But the voices of Coulson and the woman were making the pain in his skull spiral upwards until all he wanted to do was beg them to stop. But he couldn't make his mouth form the words; he couldn't even get enough air to speak. He was wondering if he should be feeling anything but miserable resignation, when the woman (Skye - that was it) let out a shuddering cry that managed to pierce through the pain. "Maybe we should say goodbye."_ _

__Oh. He was dying. Well, that explained a lot._ _

__" _No._ " There she was. There was Jemma. "We're not doing that."_ _

__"Simmons… you ran the toxicology scans yourself. You know the results." That was Ward, and the very idea of him lecturing Jemma about toxicology would have made Leo chuckle if he'd been able to make any sound at all._ _

__It was a shame to miss out on that last laugh._ _

__"Yep. I did and I do." Those were her hands on him, he realised. She was attaching electrodes to various bits of him, sliding needles into his veins. "So I'm improvising."_ _

__"Improvising how?"_ _

__"I don't bloody know yet!" He could just imagine the exasperated expression on her face. "Do you have any bright ideas? No? Anyone else? Does anyone here happen to have the expertise to alter the chemical content of Fitz's blood so that it can absorb the poison harmlessly or know how to knock up a quick anti-venom on the fly? If not, could you all kindly stop crowding my lab and let me work?"_ _

__There were some mutters Leo couldn't make out and then footsteps moving away._ _

__"I know; I know." He felt an electric tingle running through him and realised she was shocking his system to keep his heart going. "I'll apologise to them once you're better. I think they get it though. They're all terrified; I thought Skye was going to literally shut down. You may finally be getting somewhere there, by the way."_ _

__He could hear the panic underlining her voice. She always rambled like that when she was scared. He wished he could tell her not to blame herself, that he knew that if she couldn't save him then no one could have. He just wanted to _hug_ her one more time, but even if he could have moved that would have been impossible. She was bustling around the lab at top speed._ _

__A computer buzzed. "On no!" He heard her palm slam down on a countertop. "Okay, Plan F." Something rough forced it's way down his throat; she was installing a breathing tube. "Leo, stay with me, okay? Just stick around until I can work this out."_ _

__He was getting colder and the noise from the machines was getting fainter. Through the strangely soft static filling up his head, all he could hear was Jemma._ _

__"This can't happen, Leo. This is all my fault."_ _

__He knew what she meant and not being able to tell her otherwise was very possibly the worst part of this. He wished he could say that it had all been worth it. Not being part of S.H.I.E.L.D, as thrilling as that had been at times. He could have done without the state-of-the-art lab, the adventures, even his teammates if it had meant a long and healthy life. But the time he'd had with Jemma? That was more than worth the decades he wouldn't have._ _

__She jabbed him hard with something and he knew she must have been panicked; she was usually so deft with needles. He felt an odd warmth in his extremities. "Coralmyn mixed with an anti-micruricoscorales serum," Jemma muttered. "If it works, I'll share the patent with you." She let out a sob. "I'll let you _have_ the patent. Just live, Leo. Please live." A droplet of warm liquid fell on his face, and then another. Jemma was crying. "Leo… you can't die. You know what this feels like. You can't do this to me."_ _

__Of course he could die. He knew that he was nearly already there - so much closer to death than to life. But then the rest of her words hit him - _you know what this feels like_ \- and he was there again. He was watching her fall into the sky as he stood there, helpless behind shatterproof glass. He remembered the horror of that moment, knowing that everything was ruined, that he'd never again be happy unless a miracle happened, that his life might as well be ending too."_ _

__She was right. He couldn't do that to her._ _

__So instead he did the only possible thing and fought his way back to her._ _

__+1._ _

__"They're _incredible!_ " Jemma clapped her hands with delight and Leo rolled his eyes. "Fitz, you've got to see these!"_ _

__"They're only droids." He didn't know what she was going on about. He'd built dozens of droids himself. "They're just really small, that's all."_ _

__"No!" She stood back and pointed at the microscope. "Take a look for yourself."_ _

__Indulging her, he bent over the eyepiece. "They're… duplicating? But they aren't manufacturing others. It's more like they're reproducing..."_ _

__"On a cellular level! They're _organic_ , Fitz! Techno-organic life forms! Have you ever heard of anything like it?"_ _

__He couldn't stop staring. "They're amazing."_ _

__"They're also infesting my leg!" Ward snarled at them both from the bed. "And they _itch_. Also, I'm pretty sure they're eating me. So would you two please _do_ something about this?"_ _

__"Oh! Right." Jemma started up her suction machine and opened a packet of sterile scalpel blades. "I'm on it."_ _

__It was a messy job, but not overly difficult. Before too long, Jemma was wrapping Ward's leg in gauze while Leo ogled his test tube full of little beauties._ _

__"I want you to burn those bastards." Ward rolled down the leg of his trousers as he glared at Leo. "Then I want you to flush their ashes down the toilet. Then burn the toilet. Am I clear?" He must have been really angry; he was giving Leo his rare level-ten hate face._ _

__Leo whimpered and clutched the tube against his chest._ _

__Ward rolled his eyes. "Never mind. I'll take care of them myself." He grabbed the test tube and stormed off with a rather satisfying limp."_ _

__Leo watched him go sadly until Jemma squeezed his arm. "Not to worry", she grinned. She dug a little vial out of the pocket of her lab coat and waved it in his face._ _

__Fitz beamed at her. "How many did you get?"_ _

__"I think at least a dozen." She popped the droids into her incubator and keyed in a code. "We should have several times that by morning. Until then?"_ _

__He smiled warmly at her. "Feels like a X-Files night, I'd say."_ _

__"Exactly what I was thinking."_ _

__Leo slung his arm across her shoulders as they left the lab. He knew it was only a matter of time until Ward worked out what they'd done, and when he did he'd be furious. There would be glaring, threats, yet more glaring… but it didn't matter.__

Nor did it matter that they'd scrimped and saved for premium Dragon Con passes and missed their chance to go because Ward was apparently what bizarre new life forms liked for breakfast. It didn't matter that Jemma had been wrong about him making any leeway with Skye or that Jemma still got quiet and contemplative whenever the Avengers made the news. It didn't even matter to Leo that just last week his father had failed to acknowledge his birthday for the third year running.

What mattered was that he had living robots reproducing in the lab, an evening of Mulder and Scully before him and the unspoken promise of one of Jemma's banana splits to devour in front of the television. 

__What's more, he had Copernicus the monkey to play with (and he was _awesome_ ; Yellow-Breasted Capuchins could kick Robust Tufted arse any day). He had a meaningful and exciting job. And he had his favourite person in the whole damn world to share both a brilliant night and the trouble he was sure to get into in the morning._ _

__Jemma started pulling ingredients out of his mini-fridge. Leo fed Copernicus a bit of banana. "Make it-"_ _

__"Two scoops of chocolate, one of pistachio, chopped walnuts and caramel sauce instead of hot fudge. Plus extra whipped cream and a Bailey's on ice." She rolled her eyes as she assembled the components. "I _do_ know you, Leo."_ _

__He grinned as he reached for the spoons. "Of course you do."_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Written for bodldops for Yuletide 2013. Bodldops, I had so much fun with this! Thank you for your great prompts and giving me the chance to play with these characters. I hope you like the result.
> 
> Special thanks to Sarah for her advice!


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